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Monday, April 02, 2012

Allmendinger Rings The Bell With Runnerup Martinsville Finish

Sunday had all the makings of a
lousy day for AJ Allmendinger.
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Career-best second for Allmendinger at Martinsville

His first season with Penske Racing
was off to a rocky start, with a best finish of 15th at Auto Club
Speedway, his only lead-lap finish in five starts. His Shell/Pennzoil Dodge struggled
all weekend at Martinsville Speedway, qualifying 27th at a venue
where track position reigns supreme. Adding insult to injury, he awakened
Sunday morning with a nasty case of the flu.

Not exactly cause for confidence.

And yet, with the stars seemingly aligned
for another disappointing run, there was Allmendinger at race’s end, standing next
to a virtually unscathed No. 22 Dodge, attempting to describe a bizarre series
of events that resulted in a career-best runner-up finish, behind only race winner
Ryan Newman.

“I was going to be happy because we
had a Top-10 car,” said Allmendinger. “If the (final) yellow hadn’t come out,
we would have finished eighth. We worked our way up front and did all the right
things. I was going to be happy with that.

“Then, at the end, you get a little
lucky on a restart and you have a chance.”

Flu? What flu?

Allmendinger made the most of his “lucky
break,” dodging a multi-car tangle triggered when Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon and
Jimmie Johnson clashed while racing three-wide for the win on a
green-white-checkered flag restart. His escape-artist maneuver placed him alongside
Newman with just two laps remaining, and while he was unable to outrun Newman’s
Chevrolet in Martinsville’s difficult high groove, he easier outdistanced Dale
Earnhardt, Jr., for second place.

“He raced me hard,” said Newman in
Victory Lane. “I was surprised how long he hung with me on the outside.”

“Being on the bottom, and as tight
as I was on new tires, (I knew) it was going to be tough to get around him,” said
Allmendinger, who thanked Newman for using his fair share of the race track,
but no more. “He ran me really clean. He didn’t shove me up the race track like
he could have. He gave me an opportunity to beat him on the outside, (but) we
just were not turning good enough in the center.”

It may have taken longer than
expected, but Sunday’s finish has all the makings of a turning point for Allmendinger,
crew chief Todd Gordon and the Shell/Pennzoil team. “It’s great to have this
team behind me,” he said Sunday. “We haven’t had the kind of start everyone
hoped for, but these guys never questioned the decision to put me in the car.
It’s nice to have a team that is 100-percent in your corner, even when times
are tough.